Lewisham Council is keen to replicate the success of Hither Green’s Manor House Gardens, which features a busy café that encourages greater use of the park and creates a focus for young families in the area. We understand that they have been investigating how the formula could be applied to other parks in the borough, including Hilly Fields.

The idea makes perfect sense. We've argued before that the miserable, neglected toilet block could be replaced by a cafe, with a duty to provide public toilets (and perhaps a drinking fountain). As the early success the Brockley Mess has had in attracting young families suggests, there is plenty of demand for a facility like this, so a cafe could be self-sustaining and offer parents of young children a place to take the kids where they can play relatively freely, nearby the newly-refurbished playground.

The site of the toilet block has been targeted for redevelopment and exploratory discussions have taken place. While the Council would fund the cafe's construction, a private operator would run the cafe itself.

"The provision of a cafe on Hilly Fields is currently under consideration. Should the Council eventually be in a position to obtain funding for the cafe it will discuss the options with the Friends of Hilly Fields to see how it can be taken forward."

We spoke to one person with experience of operating a similar cafe, who said:

"Brockley would be great. The demographics are perfect and Hilly Fields is right in the middle of a large residential area with lots of young families."

If the Council finds the money for the up-front investment it could deliver long-term benefits for the community and a new revenue stream in perpetuity, while lowering maintenance costs for the public toilets. We await the results of their investigations with interest.

I really don't think a child free cafe in a park would be economically viable! Parents with kids would make up the core of the clientele when they take their kids out for a walk and play in the park. Any cafe on Hilly Fields would most likely rely even more heavily on parents than somewhere like Brockley Mess.

I can remember when that was a cafe,When the park also had full time park keepers,Cricket matches at the bottom of the hill,and a puuting green opposite the cafe,oh happy days,do you mean weeds Nick,because there's never anybody up there to look after It.

A great idea! One note of caution though - the cafe in Battersea Park charges extortionate prices for tiny portions. Any concession should be granted with the proviso that it remains affordable and competitive.

It beats me how you can describe Hilly Fields as barren. It's a public park created from what were fields, so it's predominantly grass, but it has lots of mature trees. The meadow area has been established now for about ten years and is wonderful in high summer. Anon has clearly known the park a lot longer than I have (I've known it for 24 years now) but I don't think it was ever the kind of park that had lots of rose gardens, ornamental flower beds etc. Someone I know used to refer to it as the common and I thought was about right.

I hope they go for a really good design - I went on a bike ride out to somewhere called Cooling and we stopped off at a small country park on the way back which had a very innovative design for it's cafe (all wood cladding and glass), unfortunately I can't remember the name of the park so can't post any pictures but it was really popular.

A cafe would be nice, but I worry that if it's council-led we'll end up with the same sort of experience as at Brockley station. They really would need to consult with the community, and then actually deliver what was agreed. In principle, a great idea though, and the more child-friendly the better, to take pressure off the Brockley Creche...sorry, Mess.

The Council are talking as If this is a new thing,when the cafe used to be there It just kept getting vandalised so they gave up and boarded It up,The trouble Is Its so out the way up on the hill,and being pitch black with no lighting Ideal for vandals and the like

Clearly security would be a challenge, but by no means an insurmountable one.

The cafe in Hither Green would be easy enough to break in to if you were so minded - a hop over a little fence wouldn't deter any serious vandal or burglar.

I don't know the one that was there before that a few people have mentioned, but I'd wager it was crap and fell in to neglect, after which point it became vandalised and eventually closed down. So what? Do this one properly and I don't see why it wouldn't be viable. Some security lighting, an alarm and proper shutters (not grey metal roller blinds!) - problem solved.

One way to deter against break ins and vandalism (to some degree) would be to open it in the evenings. If it was a nice enough place, and served decent nosh, there's no reason it couldn't be a destination for an evening meal or drinks.

Tresilliana, sorry I didn't make myself clear. I did not mean we should be planting rose gardens and flower beds! Just that it'd be nice if there was more diversity, and more hedges and scruffy bits where animals and birds can lurk. More like probably how it was as a common. Not so mowed. The grassland areas of Hampstead Heath also used to be a common - some of it was even a golf course early last century - and the diversity in those areas now is a joy. Chock-full of life. I reckon Hilly Fields does seem depressingly barren at the moment - and such a shame not to make it a nicer habitat for other creatures, now that area is losing more and more front gardens to driveways...

I know were that wood Is,Its behind were the putting green was I can remember when I was a kid there was the remains of prefabs on the flat piece down the bottom,Used to play amongst It,oh health and safety,dont know how much asbestos was there,but we never knew anyway.

@o - who is possibly going to be disadvantaged or offended by a cafe in a park? And people offended on behalf of the hypothetical poor don't count - I mean real people, personally offended.

Every time anyone proposes anything new and vaguely aspirational in the area, someone pipes up to say that this will somehow upset someone else (never them personally of course, but they imagine themselves defending the disenfranchised).

Even if you buy the "new age of austerity" narrative, a cafe is perfectly compatible with it. Perhaps people choose to go away on holiday less often and appreciate what they have on their own doorstep more often.

Tamsin, assuming Glendale or whoever the contractor is now, is still working with the Hilly Fields User Group, this mowing business has been a regular feature for many, many years. Some volunteers planted wild flowers there when the meadow area was first established.

I would say that a cafe in Hilly Fields is an essential next step. I realise the differences - but there is a cafe in the middle of Brockwell park and it is a hub for the whole park, in fact the whole area.

this sounds like a great venture for Heather Mccartney, newly opened a place in HoveVBitesa weird hybrid of sophisticated decor and wholesome food in a beach hut beside a concrete playground..check out the swings and slides in the backgroundhttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sszkSd85DwA/SpAfeDyKVhI/AAAAAAAAAwU/hWTnhOI2dpc/s1600-h/v_bites.JPG

Does anyone know a rough timeframe for the council considering such plans? Although this article is encouraging, it sounds like it's still a bit of a pipe dream.

The cafe on Peckham Rye is fantastic and Hilly Fields (and Brockley) would get a real boost from a similar, decent cafe. If that's too ambitious, even granting a licence to a mobile van selling decent teas and coffees would be great.

I've lived all over London and moved from Camden to Brockley a year ago. I love living in Brockley but do feel it lacks some basics that come as standard in other boroughs. I half considered investigating how I could gain a licence myself, to sell refreshments from a van!

I'd like to become more active, to help push improvements like a cafe up the council's agenda, so please keep the articles coming, in particular ideas on how people can become actively involved in making a difference. Thanks!

I don't think Hilly Fields is barren at all! There are the woods, the meadow section, the shrub area near the bowling green, along with plenty of trees and some really beautiful vistas. Why complicate it? Let's face it there are enough foxes (cra*ping everywhere and annihilating any hedgehogs that might lose their way) in Brockley already. And we have plenty of birds around here (from sparrows to birds of prey). I actually can't believe someone called the park barren!

I think that's a bit paranoid. There are always plenty of people around in Hilly Fields during the day and I can't imagine a small cafe is that much of a target anyway.BTW, I've noticed your posts are always rather negative and pessimistic (asking whether people will use the refurbished bars and pubs after Xmas and complaining about the cost of the new playground if I recall correctly).Perhaps consider looking on the bright side occasionally?Just a thought.

my neighbour and I would happily set up a cafe in the park with homemade cakes etc. It jsut needs the will of the council and help with funding... if there is a genuine feeling people would use it to make it economically viable then we would be up for the challenge!

As far as the concerns about security go though it may help matters to include living accommodation above - or even a local police shop. But the latter would have to be monitored to make sure they didn't do the grafitti or breaking in.

I am looking for somewhere to open up a little deli, which is child friendly. I specialize in wholesome, organic foods, home baked bread, desserts and cakes, vegetarian dishes, (although i do meat dishes too), herbal teas etc. The park cafe sounds ideal, especially when i spend so much time there with my own children. Does anyone know who to contact at the council regarding this?

Forget it... this has already been sown up for Pistachios in the park. (Read postings for this and The View.)You might try the landlord of what was the former estate agents, and is now a dreadful junks shop, at the corner of Canfield Road and Brockley Road. It would be an excellent location for what you propose, highly visible, with lots of pedestrian traffic.Good luck.